Azerbaijani court sentences editor to eight years in prison

New York,
April 5, 2013--An Azerbaijani court has sentenced the editor of a religious news
website to eight years in prison on charges related to his coverage of events
involving the Muslim community. The Committee to Protect Journalists considers
the charges to be fabricated and calls on the courts to overturn the conviction
on appeal.

"The appeals court in Azerbaijan must
overturn this unfounded conviction, and the government must address the
progressively worsening climate for press freedom in the country," said CPJ
Deputy Director Robert Mahoney.

ArazGuliyev is the editor-in-chief of the news
website xeber44, which
publishes news about religious life in Azerbaijan and international events in
the Islamic world.
The Lankaran Court on Grave Crimes convicted him under
the Azerbaijan criminal
code for "illegal possession, storage, and transportation of firearms," ​​"participation
in activities that disrupt public order," "inciting ethnic and
religious hatred," "resisting authority," and "offensive
action against the flag and emblem of Azerbaijan."

Guliyev was initially arrested on
hooliganism charges on September 8 while reporting on a protest in the
southeastern city of Masally, the reports said. The rally was staged by
residents protesting dancers at a festival who they perceived to be not
properly clothed, news reports said. Police arrested the protesters who were
calling on the festival organizers to respect religious traditions.

Guliyev's
brother, Azer, toldKavkazskiy
Uzel that his brother's imprisonment could be related to his coverage of
local protests against an official ban on headscarves and veils in public
schools. The journalist's lawyers stated that upon Guliyev's arrest,
investigators had planted a grenade that they later claimed to have found in searching
his home.

Guliyev's
defense lawyer, Fariz Namazli, told the Institute
for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS) that the charges against the journalist were not substantiated in court
and that the witness testimonies conflicted with one another. The lawyer also
said that Guliyev had been beaten by authorities after his arrest and that he
was not immediately granted access to a lawyer.

CPJ appealed to Azerbaijan President
Ilham Aliyev last month, urging him to halt the
country's crackdown on the press. Despite this and international pressure,
authorities have persisted in jailing journalists reporting on controversial
topics in the country.

At least six
other journalists are in prison on fabricated charges. Azerbaijan has become the second leading jailer of journalists in the region,
according to CPJ's prison census conducted on December 1, 2012 and the seventh worst jailer of journalists in the
world, according to CPJ research.